China attempts to reinforce real-name registration for Internet users

China is renewing its efforts to get all people who sign up for a mobile number to use their real names. According to state-run news agency China News Service (link via Google Translate), the government has declared that everyone who buys a SIM card in China, even non-citizens, need to show a passport or another form of valid identification.

The report also says that more than 100 million SIM cards have not been registered with real names. This is in spite of the fact that China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has required people to use their real names in order to get a mobile number for over six years. The MIIT claims real-name registration protects Internet users from online crime, but of course it also makes censorship easier to enforce.

If the past six years is anything to go by, however, China will continue to have a difficult time upholding real-name registration. For one thing, circumventing the rule is as easy as providing a fake ID number or name, as Charles Custer points out at Tech In Asia.